Tampa, Fla. - A 95-yard pass to the 1-yard line, followed immediately by a goal-line stand? Allowing the Tampa Bay Buccaneers to cruise downfield in their final two-minute drill before holding tight inside the 10-yard line? Giving up 513 yards, but hanging on to win the game?

The Saints have now allowed more yards than any team through six games in NFL history (2,793), according to pro-football-reference.com. Yet they're on a two-game win streak after surviving the Buccaneers' final three shots at the end zone from the 9-yard line.

Obviously, it wasn't pretty. But for the third straight game, the defense recovered from a cringe-worthy start to make just enough big plays in big moments to keep their team alive.

Saints games are like horror movies with happy endings.

"At the end of the day, I don't know how much better we got today. But I know we won the game," safety Roman Harper said. "And that's always a positive, because we weren't winning these games earlier in the year. We'd always find a way to try and lose the game. And now we're finding ways to win the game, whether offensively, defensively or special teams.

"And we can all see that everybody's buying in. And I like the direction and where this team is heading."

That series of plays in the third quarter - when safety Malcolm Jenkins tracked down receiver Vincent Jackson at the 1-yard line, followed by a four-play goal-line stand - may go down as the wackiest sequence yet for this embattled Saints defensive unit. But it was also a perfect microcosm for Sunday's game, and the 2012 season.

Defensive tackle Sedrick Ellis, Harper, Jenkins and defensive end Cameron Jordan were credited with the four tackles on that goal-line stand - the last coming when Jordan chased down quarterback Josh Freeman for a four-yard sack on a play-action pass attempt.

The Saints also held on at the end of the game, with one final frightening moment on the last play when Tampa Bay appeared to score a tying touchdown. The catch was nullified because receiver Mike Williams stepped out of bounds before catching the ball. And that was actually a heads-up play by the Saints defense as well. Cornerback Patrick Robinson shoved Williams out after Freeman started scrambling out of the pocket - a legal maneuver that the Saints drill sometimes in practice.

Robinson said he knew his shove was legal, and he knew he could leave Williams unguarded after he stepped out, which is why Williams was so wide open.

"If that's what it takes to win, we've got the guys to do it," Jenkins said of the overall performance. "That's the one thing I love about this team is we know how to fight through adversity. And we put ourselves in positions to win the game. Regardless of how it looks, we want to win, and we know how to do that."

Say this much for the Saints' defense. They're a confident bunch. And even when they start as badly as they did Sunday, they remain confident that they can make up for it.

That's something that former defensive coordinator Gregg Williams helped instill in them during his tenure from 2009-2011, and it's carried over even through a tough transition to new coordinator Steve Spagnuolo.

The Saints are obviously still having a hard time with that transition. They've had way too many breakdowns and blown coverages, which have led to way too many big plays on a weekly basis.

That was certainly the case early on Sunday, when they allowed Tampa Bay to score touchdowns on its first three drives.

Players said the Buccaneers threw a lot of new looks at them early - in part because offensive coordinator Mike Sullivan used to work with Spagnuolo with the New York Giants and knew some of his defense's vulnerabilities.

But the Saints responded well - something else they have consistently done this season. And when you've got a quarterback like Drew Brees, that can be a winning formula.

Sunday, for example, Brees led the offense on four consectuive touchdown drives to turn a 14-0 deficit into a 28-21 lead before halftime.

After the goal-line stand, Brees led the Saints on a 95-yard touchdown drive to give them a 35-21 lead.

"It's not how you start the game, it's how you finish it," Jenkins said. "We gave up all those plays in like the first quarter and a half. And then we started playing better late in the second quarter. And we knew we still had a whole half of football left. And our offense was rolling.

"So those mistakes are a lot easier to swallow when you've got an offense that can put points on the board. And once they slowed down, we bailed them out a few times. So it was a great team win. ...

"Of course, we'll take the film and go back and figure out what we need to do to be a better defense and win more solidly. But I thought we played to the level we needed to play."